Ride time changes

As of April 1st, 2008, the following rides will all start at 6:30 a.m.
The Geezer Ride
The Wednesday Wheelsucker Ride
The ABC Breakfast Ride from Grenada Park.
For more information on these rides, see the "Local Rides" page on the Geezers' Website:

http://www.mlr.biz/geezers/rides/calendar.htm

Jack Quinn

Message from George Kovalick

The following message is from George Kovalick. I won't put his contact info here to keep him from getting spam, but you can get it from me if you are interested in contacting him. -- Jack Quinn

I am not sure you would remember me. I have joined the "geezers" rides almost a year ago and enjoyed it immensely. Met a bunch of interesting guys.

At the time I lived in Carefree.

However, in November of last year my wife and I started making preparations for a long planned move to France (including the 3 cats and 6 bikes) and I had been unable to join the geezers on any rides since then.

We moved in the first week of February to a little village 60 miles south of Paris (Rogny Les Sept Ecluses - ) where we purchased an exciting business venture - a luxury hotel barge cruising the Upper Loire Canal de Briare (www.MeandererFrenchCanalCruises.com).

It took a little while to get settled in our new home (we sold our hose in Carefree, but kept a condo at Gainey Ranch, since we intend to spend 3 months every year in Scottsdale) as well as the weather to turn from dreary to pleasant, but now the bikes have been reassembled and I have been enjoying discovering the fantastic rides on high quality small roads crisscrossing this great area and enjoying the respect and courtesies of French drivers.

Our barge venture bookings historically slow down in July and August and I was entertaining the idea of having interested Geezers to come and join me in France for a few days of exciting group rides through the area. I will know the area very well by then and would be delighted to serve as a guide and advisor.

For me it's strictly a hobby and there is no "business" concept involved in this idea.

Please feel free to pass this along to the geezers members in any format you feel would be appropriate on the website or your blog.

Warm regards to all and safe riding.

George

Parking at the Camelback Inn

Jack and the Geezers,
After last Saturdays ride (3-15-08) I had returned to my car and found a “Parking Violation” notice on my windshield. There was a notation that this will be reported to P.V.P.D. This is the third notice that has been left on my car. I had moved the location of where I have been parking so I wouldn’t be bothering the Marriott Camelback Inn. After receiving this recent notice I went straight to the resort lobby, wearing cycling clothes, to speak to a manager. I was very polite and spoke to a young woman that called Eric, the manager on duty. After the situation was explained to Eric he started to tell me that the resort couldn’t be liable for non guests to be on the premises and that they had to tighten security due to vandalism. I rebutted the conversation saying that the Marriott and the cyclists are both part of the local community. I explained to him that our group is made up of many local professionals that have always thought highly of there facility. That it was very well run, had courteous employees and that we valued their hospitality to let us meet in their parking lot. Eric then mentioned that his maintenance crew had found the restrooms at the tennis courts had been left in poor condition and that they had suspected that the cyclists had left it in that condition. I explained to him that we have good communication within our group and that I would pass on the information insuring that we would leave there facility in good condition. At the end of our conversation Eric had decided to discuss the situation with his supervisor and return a phone call to me in the afternoon. Eric did call me as promised and they decided to continue to allow us to meet and park at there facility. He said that it will be OK to meet at the tennis court as we have been and that the construction is completed in the south lot as well. Eric also had asked if it was OK with me if they kept my name and phone number as a contact if there were any further issues. I agreed. So hopefully no more “Parking Violations”.
So I feel that this is another step in the right direction with cyclists and the local community getting along. I hope that everyone will pass the word to try to leave the restrooms and grounds clean after there use. A good reputation can be a valuable asset to a resort such as the Camelback Inn. In the future we can pass on the information that the resort is friendly and well run to any visitors to the valley.

Ride safe, sincerely,
Mark Snell (Scott CR1)

2007 Tour de France winners banned from 2008 race

The Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) has banned Team Astana from participating in any of the races that it organizes during all of 2008. These races include Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Tours, and most importantly, the Tour de France. The first- and third-place finishers in the 2007 Tour are thus barred from defending their titles in the 2008 even.
After the Discovery Channel Team was dissolved at the end of the 2007 season, Tour winner Alberto Contador and third-place finisher Levi Leipheimer were forced to find a new team. Both of them signed with Astana, a team which experienced major doping scandals in 2007 but which promised to ride clean in 2008. Later, ASO decided to ban Astana from all of its 2008 races, thereby barring these two riders from from competing in the Tour.
Supporters of both riders have set up Web sites to permit cycling fans from around the world to petition the ASO to let these two riders participate in the 2008 Tour. The Web site set up for Leipheimer is www.letleviride.com/. Contador's site in four languages is www.contadoraltour.com/. The English version isn't quite grammatical, but let's overlook that and support the initiative. After all, this site isn't always a literary masterpiece, either. :) -- Jack Quinn